Erode sitting MP A. Ganeshamoorthy, who attempted suicide on Sunday by consuming poison, died on Thursday morning. He was reported to have attempted suicide on Sunday after being upset over being denied a ticket to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Ganeshamoorthy was rushed to a hospital in Erode by his family after the MP reportedly consumed Sulfate, an insecticide. Later, he was moved to a private hospital in Coimbatore.
He has since then been undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. However, his body wasn't responding to treatments. He died on Thursday morning around 5.05 am.
Party sources said the body would be taken to his residence at Periyar Nagar in Erode and would be kept for public homage.
#UPDATE | MDMK MP from Erode, Ganesamoorthy passed away at 5:05 am today due to cardiac arrest. He was hospitalised on March 24 after allegedly attempting suicide. #TamilNadu https://t.co/tGQAZoRuD2
— ANI (@ANI) March 28, 2024
In Erode, the DMK has fielded its candidate. It instead gave the Tiruchy seat to the MDMK where the party fielded Durai Vaiko, son of MDMK general secretary Vaiko.
The 76-year-old MP, who is known to be one of the loyalists of Vaiko, is a veteran of the Dravidian movement. Hailing from West Tamil Nadu, Ganeshamoorthy is a law graduate. Drawn towards the DMK during his school days, he was the joint organiser of DMK’s student wing in Erode. In 1984 he was appointed as the Erode district secretary of the DMK student wing. In 1989 he won on a DMK ticket from the Modakurichi assembly constituency.
Later, when Vaiko split the party and walked out to launch his own Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in 1996, Ganeshamoorthy joined him.
Later, in 1998 and in 2009, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Erode on an MDMK ticket. In 2014 he lost the Erode constituency to AIADMK. In 2019, he won from Erode on a DMK ticket as he contested in the ‘rising sun’ symbol. When the seat-sharing talks were underway, sources in MDMK said that Ganeshamoorthy was renominated.
Though it is rumoured that Ganeshmoorthy took the extreme step because he wasn’t renominated, sources in the MDMK say that he consumed poison due to family issues. While his wife Balamani passed away earlier, sources say the issues in the extended family led to his untoward decision.
(With inputs from Lakshmi Subramanian)
